Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Tuesday 13 July 1999

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Alex Fergusson (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive in the light of the lack of financial assistance available to Scottish pig farmers what plans does it have to prevent the collapse of the Scottish pig farming industry.

Ross Finnie: I sympathise with the current plight of Scottish pig producers, which arises from overproduction at national EU and world levels. The Scottish Executive is precluded by EU rules from providing direct financial assistance to this sector. But we will encourage the European Commission to use other measures at its disposal to help alleviate the situation.

Economic Indicators

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer by Nicol Stephen on 17 June 1999, what plans it has to consult the Parliament on the number and range of new economic indicators required; how it intends to keep the Parliament informed of the progress of the review of additional needs and of any planned changes to official economics statistics, and what wider consultation it plans in relation to these changes.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive is currently developing a work programme to improve the dissemination of economic and statistics knowledge on the Scottish economy, raise the profile of the Scottish Executive’s thinking on the economy and improve external dialogue and policy-related research capabilities.

  The Parliament will be kept informed of the progress of the review of Scottish economic indicators through the Executive’s external publication series, the format of which is currently under review.

  Wider consultation with the economic community is also proposed via a programme of increased dialogue with the external community to facilitate the flow of knowledge, together with the commissioning of policy-related economic research on selected elements of the Scottish economy.

Education

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what provision it intends to make to include non-teaching school staff, especially school librarians, in the consultation process for the Education Standards Bill.

Mr Sam Galbraith: I will ensure the widest consultation on the proposed Improvement in Scottish Education Bill. Copies of the consultation document will be sent to every school in Scotland and Headteachers will be encouraged to discuss the proposals with all school staff. A wide range of other organisations are also being consulted including School Boards, the Scottish Library and Information Council and the Scottish Library Association.

Education

Alex Fergusson (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to prevent composite class sizes rising from their present limit of 25 to 30 as a result of regulations (S.I. 1999/1080) to reduce overall class sizes to 30.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Regulations ensure that the commitment to class sizes of 30 or less in P1 to P3 will be delivered by August 2001. Local authorities are being supported with £48.2 million over this and the next 2 years through the Excellence Fund to achieve this.

Employment

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to provide an assessment of the impact on employment in Scotland of the ending of duty free sales within the European Union and whether it intends to seek details of any financial assistance being provided to French companies affected by the abolition of such duty free sales by the French government.

Henry McLeish: My Department will monitor this matter closely. I am not aware that any financial assistance has been offered to companies by the French government, for the reason suggested, but if Fergus Ewing has any relevant information I would be glad to consider it.

Energy

Alex Fergusson (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to route underground sections of the 28 mile long powerline that is to be constructed through Carrick in order to service the interconnector to Northern Ireland, bearing in mind that

  

(a) The last UK Government 
agreed that undergrounding of certain sections would do less damage 
to the environment of that region and 



  

(b) the electricity 
supplied would be more economically produced in Northern Ireland.

Henry McLeish: I have no such plans. Consent for the construction of an overhead electricity line through South Ayrshire was granted in 1997, and there is in any event no statutory basis on which it can be revisited.

Health

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to enable greater Glasgow Health Board to modernise or replace its hospital buildings.

Susan Deacon: Greater Glasgow Health Board’s recently finalised Health Improvement Programme (HIP) for the 5-year period from April 1999-2004 sets out the challenges facing the provision of services and details specific service proposals that are being considered to meet identified needs. The Health Board does not believe the existing disposition of adult acute services and emergency care throughout Glasgow is a sustainable basis for the future and the HIP sets out a range of service changes to modernise and strengthen emergency services that it will be seeking to discuss with various parties. To date, no decisions have been taken. The Health Board intends to invite comments on its proposals in due course.

  A number of improvements are in train to replace and modernise Glasgow hospitals. A major £52m publicly funded re-development of Glasgow Royal Infirmary began in February this year. The project includes better, modern maternity services for mothers and their babies in Glasgow with the full range of clinical support facilities on site, an enhanced plastic surgery and burns facilities and services, and an enhanced emergency receiving service. Approval was given in March this year for an £8.3m publicly funded project to develop a head and neck surgery (including oral and maxillo facial surgery) and cancer service for south Glasgow. The Government has agreed to establish Scotland’s first "walk-in, walk-out" treatment centre in Glasgow to pilot fast, one-day diagnosis and treatment for a range of conditions. These developments are representative of the Executive’s commitment to provide modern co-ordinated and quality care for patients.

Information

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in the light of its policy on freedom of information, it intends to make representations to Her Majesty’s Government to publish all of those Cabinet papers which, under the 30 year rule, have not yet been published and which relate to matters which would now be devolved under the Scotland Act 1998.

Mr Jim Wallace: UK Cabinet papers, whether on devolved matters or not, are the property of Her Majesty’s Government and their release as public records is a matter for Her Majesty’s Government.

Justice

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) to detail for each Sheriffdom the number of individuals reported over the last three years to the Procurator Fiscal’s service regarding contraventions of the misuse of drugs legislation relating to the possession of cannabis or cannabis resin; (b) to specify the number dealt with by summary complaint, fixed penalty notice or warning letter over this period and (c) to specify the guidelines for selecting which of these courses of action is to be followed.

Lord Hardie: The information necessary to answer parts (a) and (b) of the question in relation to the particular drugs specified is not kept either centrally by Crown Office or by individual Procurator Fiscal's offices.

  In relation to part (c), I have issued guidance to Procurators Fiscal regarding the marking of cases generally as suitable for prosecution by summary complaint or alternatively as suitable for disposal by the making of a conditional offer of a fixed penalty (fiscal fine) or for disposal by means of a warning letter. The guidance issued includes specification of circumstances in which those means of disposal would be inappropriate.

  The guidance issued by me to Procurators Fiscal is confidential and it is not in the public interest to publish it.

Justice

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to introduce measures to reduce the amount of police time spent waiting to appear as witnesses in criminal trials.

Mr Jim Wallace: The research report "From Citation to Witness Stand: A Study of Police Witness Duty at Court" published last September revealed that since 1991, through the introduction of mandatory intermediate diets and other measures, there has been a 40% reduction in the number of police officers having to be available for court on any given day. We will continue our efforts to improve the way in which witnesses, whether police officers or others, are dealt with by the criminal justice system.

Justice

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to increase staffing levels of the Procurator Fiscal service in order to reduce the amount of time spent by police officers waiting to appear as witnesses in criminal trials.

Lord Hardie: There are no current plans to increase staffing levels of the Procurator Fiscal Service specifically for this purpose.

  Scottish Office commissioned research published in August 1998 has shown a substantial reduction in the amount of time spent by police officers in court. The research also recognised that a significant contribution to this reduction was due to the efforts made by members of the Procurator Fiscal Service to implement the legislative changes introduced by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. Other practical and innovative measures such as ‘on-call’ services were introduced, following consultation in order to make more efficient use of police witness waiting time. Over the last 3 years there has been a steady increase in the number of legal staff employed by the Procurator Fiscal Service. In addition as a result of a recent recruitment drive 22 further legal appointments have been made.

  As with other witnesses cited to attend court, Procurators Fiscal continue to make every effort to ensure that evidence is agreed where possible and that attendance at court is restricted to those whose evidence is essential.

Oil

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be consulted from 1 July by Her Majesty’s Government prior to the licensing of oil developments in Scottish waters and, if so, whether it intends to consult the Parliament on its responses.

Henry McLeish: The licensing of oil developments is a reserved matter. Nonetheless administrative arrangements are being made to ensure that the Scottish Executive is routinely kept informed of proposed rounds of licensing. If any of the proposals have a particular impact on Scotland, the Scottish Executive will have an opportunity to comment on them. It will depend on the circumstances of each case as to whether consultation with the Parliament is appropriate.

Transport

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to rename or redesignate all or part of the M74 motorway as the M6 and, if so, which part.

Sarah Boyack: We have no current plans to rename or redesignate the M74 or A74(M) motorways between Glasgow and the border as the M6.

Transport

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends make a statement as to what percentage of revenue collected by virtue of road tolling will be spent on the infrastructure of public transport and roads network.

Sarah Boyack: Our initial proposals on the use of revenue collected by means of possible future road user charging or workplace parking levy schemes are set out in the consultation paper on these issues published today. A copy of the paper will be deposited in the Parliament’s Information Centre. Following consultation, our proposals will be incorporated into the planned Transport Bill.